It’s been obvious since, well, birth, that Simon is more like his dad then me. It began in the neonatal ICU, when his blood type, inherited from Matt, was at odds with mine, resulting in massive jaundice. A few months on, I realized that he had his father’s coloring and face shape. A few years on, and there is no missing that he has his father’s body type. Simon at three is nothing so much as a shrunken version of the guy I met at 16 with his narrow shoulders and frame, long lean limbs, and impossibly skinny waist.
He’s got his father’s cautious, observer personality, too. I’m more than fine with all of this. Having a “little Matt” around is pretty cute. But there’s one thing he could have skipped. Yesterday, Matt went to the doctor and was diagnosed with an ear infection. Today, Simon followed suit. It would seem that both of them get positively hammered by allergies, and that both of them are similarly prone to sinus and ear infections. My poor guys!
The creepy thing about Simon’s most recent ailment is how stealth it’s been. The entire family has been in a collective allergy attack for over a week now. I had a mild bug last week that presented itself in the form of a low-grade fever and fatigue. Since Friday, Simon has had a low-grade fever (between 99 and 100.3 degrees) and has been fatigued. But that’s been it. The fever has been medicated with Tylenol and Advil, the allergies managed with Sudafed, and he’s seemed mostly OK. He’s slept fine, he’s eaten some, and he’s played off and on.
Today I brought him to the doctor only because it was his fourth morning with a fever, and the rule is that kids go to the doctor if a fever lasts more than three days. So feeling a tad silly, I dragged Simon in to see Dr. Newstadt to verify that he had allergies and a mild bug.
Good thing I did! He may have strep. And he definitely has ear infection. In fact, his left ear is so swollen that the doctor fears it might burst before the antibiotics take effect. The last time he had an ear infection, his temperature hit 106 degrees and he stayed up shrieking through the night. There was no missing that this kid was sick!
So how in heaven’s name can he have an ear-drum rupturing infection with only a low-grade fever and no complaints of pain? I’ll never know. But what I do know is that next time, we hit the doctor’s office on the THIRD morning with a fever.
I had ear infections until I got my tonsils out at 7, and then randomly since. I’ve burst two ear drums. All I can tell you is that sometimes they come on like a freight train–nothing to awful in a matter of hours. I had scarlet fever once that happened like that–cold at 8, 106 temp at midnight. So don’t be surprised if you didn’t catch it earlier.